Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1887-06-14
Does Protection Protect9
IFron the Raltimore sun.1
Pools aid Truss. &.

AHG - f--ss
Mr.. Dom Piatt has recently been
giving his experiences on protection:
When the duty was imposed on wool
he bought flock of sheep and went
into wool-growing. All went well
until other Ohio farmers, seeing there
WAS money to be made in the business,
bought tiocks also or increased those
they already had. The competition
became SO great that prices declined,
and profits declined also. Then CAL
ifornia and the Femoter ., Western
States went into wool-growipg and
Iindercut the Ohio farmers, and as
the bnsines was overdone, Mr.. Piatt
and many others sold their fiocks,
and wool-growing has become almost
n lost business in Ohio. Mr.. Piatt
next went into the making of axe han
dies by machinery. He bought an
old mill, set himself vigorously to
work, and made good profits until Ca
madam It1apufaeturers, finding there
was no duty on axe handles, began to
undersell him in his own markets.
Not to be baftled by outside competi-
tion, Mr.. Piatt went to Washington,
and By representing that it was me-
cessary to protect On infant industry
got duty placed on foreign axe han
dies, But as soon as axe handles
fohnd d place in the protective tariff
many other persons bought machin-
cry and went into the axe handle bus
mess. Presently the market became
orerstocked, prices fell, and Mr. Piatt
sold out his mill aud machinery and
abandoned the enterprise at n loss of
three Thousand dollars. Another
case: Sheet steel and sheet iron are
protected by from thirty to one hun
dred and thirteen per cent. duty
One would think that that was pro-
lection enough to make all the manu-
facturers of these articles happy and
rich. But not A dispatch from Pitts
burg states that they are trying TO get
up a gigantic pool in that city. " At
least $50, ,000,00 is represented in
the combination, which is to be COM
posed of all the sheet iron and sheet
steel manufacturers in the United
States. The object of The pool is to
advance prices. The reason for this
action is that for long time, owing
to persistent cutting of rates by man
ufacturers, prices have been deprc-
ciating rapidly. In sheet steel it is
the same" Another reason assigned
is " the alarming increase in the i'm
portation of timed sheets and sheet
iron, especially as these importations
arc the result of systematic under
valuations of foreign metal, practiced
by importers and by brokers in the
East, who sell TO western iron firms,
It is evident that this last reason was
either an afterthought or was intend
ed to bolster up the action of the pro+
posed pool, for &c the whole importa-
ton for the nine months ended March
81" as the Providence Journal points
ont, " of sheet, plate and taggers iron
was only of the value of S164 900;
and less than that of the preceding
year, though slightly larger in
amount" Again, the manufacture of
wall paper in one Of the protected in
dustrious, and for some time past n
pool of leading manufacturers has
been in existence 90 for the purpose
of maintaining arbitrary prices on
certain grades of paper. For little
while it kept prices up TO high lev
ell" But d number of wallpaper
manufacturers, commanding a large
capital, preferred 20 carry on the
business on an Independent basis
The result has been that, not being
bound by pool prices, they have sue
ceeded in breaking up the pool, but
With the prospect of entering on n
war of prices on the part of the pool
to force them into combination with
the latter. 1t is these aggregations
of capital organized into pools" and
+" trusts" as the Standard Oil Trust,
the Cottonseed Oil Trust, the Gas
Trust of Chicago, and the Cattle
Trust, which last it is proposed shall
control all the cattle ranches of Texas
and the West, and consequently the
beef supply, that seem to be destined
before long to play an important part
in the manufacturing and producing
industries of the United States, suss
tanned as they are by the cheapness
of money. the eagerness of people To
invest in speculative enterprises that
promise to pay much more than the
current rates of interest, and by n
tariff that places innnmerable small
producers and all consumers at the
mercy of great combinations that are
to all intents and purposes monopolies.